Thursday, October 30, 2014

The LeMoyne Star is an old traditional block - I've seen versions from the early 1800's! It is a beautiful block, but a little tricky with those Y-seams, though. I wanted to show you how I do them by machine. First you cut all your pieces. I used EQ7 to print out my template for the diamond and rotary cutting instructions for the background pieces. The best thing about using the rotary cutting instructions is that it figures it out so the triangles are cut with the straight of grain on the outside of the triangles, making it much easier to get a block that stays square!

I fussy cut my blocks using a clear plastic template that I cut from heavy duty template plastic. I marked the position of key elements on the plastic to guide my cutting for each piece.

Choosing which way I want to sew the diamonds. I decided that I liked the blue stripe to be nearer the center of the block (the first picture)

Putting them together in pairs....

Lining them up to make sure I sew them all the same way (sure enough, if I skip this step one will get turned the wrong way....so I always line them up before I start)

I sew from the tip, backsitiching 1/4 inch from the end of the seam. This is the pivot point and it sews together easily as long as you stop at the 1/4 inch mark. You can mark it with a pencil dot or pin - I have done so many I can eyeball them pretty well, now!

I finger press all the seams to the same side for all four pairs.

Put two of the pairs together..

Match up the seams at the point....

Take a peak to make sure they are lining up just right

And sew from the point, stopping at that 1/4 inch mark once again.

Finger press the seam going in the same direction again, then put your two halves together and check those seams....looking good!

Sew all the way across the halves, you have to start and stop at that 1/4 inch mark for this seam!

Press to one side and you have the star put together. Look at that nice center! You can press your seams open, but I think it helps me match up the intersections better if I press to one side.

Looking good!

Time to add the background pieces. I start with a triangle.

Line up the point of the triangle with a point of the star.

Here is where the 90 degree corner of the triangle goes into the join between star points.

I like to stick a pin through the corner of the triangle where the seam allowances would meet, then pin through the end of the seam between star points.

Stitch from the point of the star to the seam and backstitch at the pivot point. Make sure you don't stitch into the seam, just stop at the 1/4 inch mark on this seam as well.

It's all right if you are a tiny bit short of the corner, just don't stitch across that seam allowance or you will get a pucker.

Now line up the next star point with the other side of the triangle. Stitch from the 1/4 seam to the end of the point.

Just fold the rest of the star out of your way so you don't accidently stitch anything into your seam allowance.

See how your seam allowances meet at the corner, but don't cross. Just make sure to backstitch one or two stitches and you will be fine!

Open up the block to see your beautiful corner...very nice! Only 7 more y-seams to go....

Now to do a corner square. See how the background and point make a perfect square at the corner?

Perfect for sewing the corner square and matching up the sides!

Just line the top up with the background piece and the side with the outside of the star seam! This will give you a perfect point at the corner (the seam is sticking up, so it looks like the edge of the star is shorter than it should be, but it does line up with the seam)

Sew to the middle, watching that 1/4 seam allowance, just like the triangle piece...

Now match the edge of the trimmed triangle with the outside edge of the square.

Sew from the 1/4 inch mark to the edge of the block.

Another perfect corner...Practice, practice, practice!

Front of the finished block....

And the back after sewing all 4 triangles and corners. Make sure you don't goof and sew two squares in a row...I've done that before!

To press, I like to press the seams away from the star to reduce bulk at the points.

Use the point of your iron to encourage the seams to spin the way you want them to.

Lift and press - be careful not to distort your block!

All seams pressed and laying nicely!

Ta-da!

Here are all 9 blocks, sashed and bordered! So pretty! This is a really old UFO and I am so glad that it is now a finished quilt! Well worth my time!

Now, I just need to catch up on the September UFO quilt post.....my blog posts are starting to become UFO's too!

Monkey Around

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About Me

Hi! I am Pamela Boatright. I've always wanted to be a writer, and love quilting so this is the space where I get to put both of my interests together! I also enjoy teaching and creating original projects, so this is a great place for sharing those. I hope you enjoy your visit here and are inspired to go create something beautiful and useful!